Algiers is one of the most beautiful cities in the world (I like to think I'm pretty objective about this because I'm not Algerian )

It's also one of the least visited by tourists and nobody's traveling much at the moment, so come along, let's go on a little walk (THREAD)

Ok so first, I'm a sucker for both THE SEA and some HILLS for perspective and Algiers has both - it's set on a dramatic semi-circle overlooking the bay (San Francisco go home you're drunk)

Second, it's been a major place of architectural experimentation so the buildings are WILD

Today, we're going to walk from the Place des Martyrs to the Grande Poste (but if you're nice to me there will be other walks).

This is our beginning point, the place des Martyrs ساحة الشهداء
the oldest centre of town

The square is where the centre of town used to be under the Ottoman period, it's right in front of the port. It features the main Hanafi mosque built in 1660, the 'new mosque' الجامع الجديد , known in French as the Mosquée de la Pêcherie because it's close to the fish market

When the French conquered the city in 1830, they razed part of the lower city in order to make space for the movement of troops, thus creating the current square, known as the Place du Gouvernement.

From it, you can see what's left of the old city stretching up: the Casbah

Unfortunately for you, I am less interested in the authenticity of ~~traditional culture ~~ than I am in colonialism, so we're not going up the Casbah today, we're walking along the seashore, along the monumental boulevard, which is what you see when you arrive from the sea

The name of the street acts as a nice of summary of political history: it was originally known as 'Boulevard de l'impératrice', built in the 1860s under the regime of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, the same time as Haussmann's renovations of Paris, so no wonder it looks similar.

After the fall of the imperial regime, it was long known as the Boulevard de la République (obvs) and since independence...

BOULEVARD CHE GUEVARA

because the Algerian and Cuban revolutionaries were tight

We've reached Bab Azzoun. The city used to have walls with different gates, but as the city expanded under French rule, old walls were destroyed and the names remained. Here we find a square with the National Theatre, named after pioneer of Algerian theatre Mahiedinne Bachtarzi

It's time for a break: opposite the theatre is Le Tantonville, a café in continuous operation since 1870 (!)

Ok we have now had our Hamoud lemonade and it is time to move on to some different architectural styles. If we walk a bit inwards, we get to the Museum of Modern Art, formerly a department store (Galeries de France), built in 1914.

NO IT IS NOT A MOSQUE

The store was part of a wider architectural trend in the early 20th century known as style Jonnart (after the Governor-General at the time) that sought to blend ~local culture to create monumental buildings. So there are a lot of fake mosques around

(this is also not a mosque)

Perhaps the most famous of these neo-mauresque Jonnart buildings is one of the symbols of Algiers which we have no reached LA GRANDE POSTE, built in 1910 around the same time. It is certainly cooler than your average post office.

The post office marked the new centre of Algiers in the 20th century as the city had expanded further south along the seashore. The military walls had been destroyed, leaving open a dramatic downward slope to the sea.

At the top of this slope is an example of yet another architectural style: the Palais du Gouvernement
قصر الحكومة, formerly known as the GGA because it was built to house the Government-General of Algeria in 1930
It's massive and quite bonkers as a building.

In fact, Algiers was a huge place of experimentation for some of the most insane modernist styles: but that, my friends, is for another day. There is so much more to explore, the gritty and the gorgeous, up the hills and along the sea, but we'll leave it here for now.

The photographs here are taken from a variety of sources: check out the beautiful work of @Mahdiaridj in particular.

An incredible resource to the city's architecture is this book by @EditionsBarzakh: a treasure!

FINALLY, MANY ALGERIANS ARE STRUGGLING AGAINST THEIR GOVERNMENT FOR A BETTER ALGERIA.

JOURNALIST KHALED DRARENI WAS ARRESTED IN MARCH AND IS IN JAIL FOR DOING HIS JOB,

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/world/africa/Algerian-journalist-Khaled-Drareni-convicted.html

#freekhaleddrareni #liberezkhaleddrareni

SO IF YOU ARE MAD THAT GETTING A VISA TO ALGERIA IS DIFFICULT

1) CONSIDER YOUR OWN COUNTRY'S IMMIGRATION POLICY AND TAKE ACTION TO CHANGE IT

2) SUPPORT THOSE IN ALGERIA WORKING FOR A BETTER, MORE ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT

ok done shouting